Seminars for the ACLA convention contain 9-12 papers and meet for 2-3consecutive days. This seminar calls for papers dealing with racial mixturein the Americas. Submissions should be sent through the ACLA webpage.

â€œInter-American Faces of Racial Mixtureâ€Mestizaje, hybridity, transculturation, miscegenation, mestiÃ§agem,creolization? The multifaceted topic of racial mixture has been a commonliterary and cultural preoccupation throughout the American hemisphere fromthe colonial period forward. Whether cast as an aberration, a socialproblem, a personal identity crisis, a rationale for lynching, a step towarda â€œcosmicâ€ future, or a nation-building tool, the theme of racialmixture connects the literatures and cultures of the Americas from Canada tothe Caribbean and from Yoknapatawpha to Macondo. â€œInter-American Faces ofRacial Mixtureâ€ hopes to continue the discussion about race and racialmixture in the Americas that began during a seminar at last yearâ€™s ACLAconvention entitled â€œMestizaje, MestiÃ§agem, and Miscegenation: Mixingwith the Other in the Americas.â€ Proposals are invited from previous andnew participants and may treat racial mixture in literature, law, politicalrhetoric, film, music, the news, and/or other media.Possible questions of interest include:

*What significance can we ascribe to the inter-American preoccupation(s)with racial mixture?*What subjective formations have emerged as the discourses and practices ofracial mixture have intersected with specific class and gender identities?*How have local or national traditions of racial mixture, such asmiscegenation and mestizaje, interfaced and influenced one another?*To what extent have the various national discourses of racial mixture inthe Americas changed from the colonial period through the twenty-firstcentury?*How did territorial expansion affect attitudes toward racial mixturethroughout the American hemisphere?*When/how does much of the discussion around racial mixture in the Americasshift away from a biological or â€œbloodâ€ discourse toward a discussion ofcultural hybridity?

ORGANIZERS:Emron Esplin, Michigan State Universityemail: esplinem_at_msu.eduBrian Roberts, The University of Virginiaemail: brr9k_at_mail.virginia.edu